Borneo and Indochina Adventure

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Amie's Adventures Borneo and Indochina Adventure
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- Oct 4, 2016
- ⛅ 32 °C
- Altitude: 14 m
- Malaysia Kampung Boyan 1.5438, 110.355111°32’38” N 110°21’18” E
Day 1
kuching
October 4, 2016 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C
Dear travel journal,
I can't even begin to explain how I feel right now. 11.50pm last night I boarded a flight to Singapore. Sat on a very full plane on an isle seat next to a lovely older lady who is from malaney and travelling to Thailand to meet up with some friends for a few weeks. Didn't get much sleep, but managed to watch 'me before you' and 'Allegiance'. Got off at Singapore, organised my transfer flight and found a little sleep corner and had a snooze. I know - I had no idea they were even a thing. Thank you Singapore Airport. Then I went for a wander, the airport is massive, went through the butterfly house and had some breaky. Yep I went to an English pub in a Singapore airport and had an Aussie breaky lol. Then back on a plane 8 hrs later and watched the start of the new 'Independence day' movie. Then through customs, my first squat toilet of the trip and out into Kuching, Borneo, Malaysia (they like to be called Borneo - they identify as independent to a point). Its so weird and probs sounds bad, but I totally feel like I'm home when I'm here.... Jumped into a typical Borneo cab (upgraded from a few couple of yes ago but so, same same, lol). Through no rules traffic and booked into basaga. The lady on reception is amazing and remembers me from a couple of years ago :p emptied my bags onto my massive bed and had a shower in my outside but attached to my room bathroom. Had a slight reaction to I'm assuming the suncream which I'm guessing isn't the same as last time. And by slight I'm talking face rash, beetroot red and hot. Woops. Lots of water and cold face wash later it was all good. Then Alvin picked me up and we drove around town looking for foam mats for one of our stays away and walked around like a local, watched Alvin talk to people he knows all over town, including a cop in uniform while we were illegally parked lol. Then we had dinner - garlic narn with vegetarian sauce and ginger tea. While the guys at the shop tried to guess my age and tried to make me guess what different Malay sentences were. Interesting and frustrating all at the same time - I need to learn Malay. Then a drive through the country side while it was raining away, talking about everything from family history, to religion and politics and the true meaning of words such as 'conservation' and 'animal welfare'. He really is an amazing person. I really don't think he understands. Then we got to his village (Sebemban) and his family all got introduced from kids, to sisters and cousins etc. Of course I had to slip in a mamoth size ditch on the way up to the house and ended up wet and muddy but Christina saved me lol. Then I sat with the family and chatted and caught up. The kids and sisters were beading and the babies were being fed and put to bed. The babies have little black bands around their ankles and wrists. Christina was saying that the bands are black and put on the babies because it hides them from spirits. Once they outgrow the bands they get cut off and the babies are then usually at least at year old and old enough to be safe from bad spirits. And now I'm laying in a traditional long house in a small room they set up for me, with the family all doing their thing on the other side of the curtain, the 4 dogs and lots of chickens running around outside. Just taking in where I am and the sounds of the jungle ad river outside the open window. I think every time I smell mosquito coils I will think of this. Just wow. I feel so safe and comfortable and content.Read more
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Amie's Adventures Borneo and Indochina Adventure
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- Oct 5, 2016
- ⛅ 33 °C
- Altitude: 52 m
- Malaysia Sarawak Kampong Sebemban Rantau Kumtum 1.25, 110.633331°15’0” N 110°37’60” E
Day 2
basaga and beyond
October 5, 2016 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
Dear travel journal,
Today I woke up to the sounds of a busy long house. Kids running around getting ready for school and roosters in the background. I just lay there for a while and took it all in and watched the sky becoming lighter, through my little window. Then I got up and met more extended family members and my amazing hostess Christina made me breakfast. While the different family members with varying degrees of English all tried chatting and asking questions. And then I walked with Christina through the village to take her youngest daughter to school. The village is traditional long houses built along the river, full of long houses, some of which date back 100 years!! And some being built up and being modified as we speak, including Alvin's massive extension, which will be big enough to be base of operations for some of his projects. The kids at the primary school thought that I was super fascinating. I got lots of looks and stares and when you smile or wave the just giggle and run away. Preschool kids, lol. Back at the long house i was introduced to all 4 dogs, two of which where found under a banana tree as pups, one who is pregnant, and back upstairs the babies morning routine was in full swing - food (made from freshly boiled fruits and mashed through a sieve), water (6month olds drinking out of cups! With help obviously), and then bath time. I then helped pack all of the food and life jackets etc. needed by the great projects tour starting today in the back of the van and then sat down and read a little. Then i packed up my stuff and in the van we jump and ran into town to go to the bank and drop of the provisions to valantines (guide taking over the tour when Alvin can't do it) house in his village. Back into kuching through the winding roads and rice fields and villages and the fruit trees that are huge and everywhere from replantings by the locals ( which is great for the orangutans). We then grabbed a second breakfast (1st one at 6.30am, 2nd at 11.30am) and went to the airport to pick up most of the visitors from england. It was soo good seeing everyone. Maria, Jason and Kirsty from my tour last time and 2 couples from another project group just after ours - Julie and Philip and anne and Paul. Then jumped in the van and headed back to basaga to check in as a group. Everyone had a shower and freshened up and I moved from my single room to the double I'm sharing with Kirsty. Then we all sat around with a cold drink and had a chat and then Alvin came and got us and we went out for a light lunch at a little traditional cafe. The noodles were very tasty. And then back to basaga. We went through our bags and moved everything into a smaller day pack ready for part 1 of the trip. Then we all sat around chatting and had dinner and then everyone went to bed, except anne and I who stayed up and waited for Sam and callam to arrive as their flight was a late one. They arrived about 10.15pm, we greeted them, they checked in and then we crashed. Ready for the adventures to begin tomorrow.Read more
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Amie's Adventures Borneo and Indochina Adventure
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- Oct 6, 2016
- ⛅ 28 °C
- Altitude: 11 m
- Malaysia Sarawak Simanggang Sungai Simanggang 1.2359, 111.448991°14’9” N 111°26’56” E
Day 3
cultural emersion
October 6, 2016 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
Dear travel journal,
I seriously can't even remember the name of the town I'm in (sri amen). But we had the best fun today. Up early and all had breaky and shoved as much as we could into little backpacks, left our big bags at basaga and locked our valuables in a safe and jumped in the back of the vans. Alvin drove one and his old army friend Frankie drove the other, that had me, Kirsty, maria, Jason, callum and Sam in it. We drove for about an hr and had lunch at Alvin and Christina's. The whole family was there except the kids who where at school. Christina's mum kept coming up and hugging me and when we were leaving she just hung on and told me I had to come back. Which I will, Borneo will always be my second home. Then from there we jumped in the vans and drove to a market place in Serbian, with all the stalls set up with sooo many weird and wonderful fruits and vegi's and herbs and spices and dried fish. Its really quite awsome. We got some water shoes and stopped at the chemist. Then off to port Alice where the old raja used to be based and Alvin told us all about how the British chief raja has brought in the 22 laws of Sarawak which based around 'Sarawak belongs to the locals, it can be governed and managed until such time that the sarawakians can govern and manage themselves.' Which is already starting. Last yr one of the local chiefs in batangai national park claimed back his land and deemed it a tungang. Which means he put self imposed no fishing and hunting laws on the land - and he won through the local Sarawak courts. Which is a first promising step in the right direction. Especially seeing as government run national parks are logged and hunted and fished on a daily basis. The trick now is to get the chiefs who are taking back their land to protect it and become involved with sustainable ecotourism. Not plant palm oil or coffee or pepper after clearing their land. This will not only bring them income into their village but will mean they won't have to destroy parts of their lands and hopefully keep good care of it, especially if tourists regularly visit and leave the habitat perfect for orangutans to move into /stay in those areas and coexist with the locals. The point of us being here is to meet this chief and show him the benefits of ecotourism and the importance of conservation and start building a mutual respect relationship. And hopefully impact the tribes all along the batangi rivers. The land of the traditional headhunters. Headhunters traditionally hunted heads, and collected skulls. It was a right of passage along and show of strength and bravery along with their first needle tattoo on their shoulder. Having skulls showed bravery and power and that he would be able to protect his wife and babies if need be. Today this custom has changed and boys have to find other ways to show their bravery. Alvin swam across a crocodile infested river to show he was brave and entered adult hood and proved to Christina's family that he was worthy. Another custom is for boys to sneak into the bed of a girl in a traditional long house where the family all sleeps in one room without getting caught. After the fort we booked into a fancy hotel and finished off the shopping for our trip. At the super market we got lots of looks and people asking to take pictures. Most of them haven't seen whities before so to them we were the odd ones. This obviously is not a tourist area. All through Town we got lots of pictures and stares. Being a whitie (as they call it) is not a bad thing. Its something they value, lots of people try to lighten their skin and become more pale. Is a phrase to purely represent what we are not a nasty term. Walking through town there were swallows everywhere down the main street and even when it poorer they stayed. It was quite awesome to see, the shear amount of tiny birds. After shopping we went for sundowners -drinks and nibbles (at sundown :p) and then had a meat and noodle dinner in an open plan eatery type area. A few people got pretty drunk which was slightly funny and then we stopped for ice cream and bad jokes and then we were off to bed.Read more
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Amie's Adventures Borneo and Indochina Adventure
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- Oct 7, 2016, 3:26pm
- ⛅ 28 °C
- Altitude: 115 m
- Malaysia Sarawak Kerangan Mong Sungai Santu 1.15989, 111.924461°9’36” N 111°55’28” E
Day 4
batangi longhouse resort
October 7, 2016 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
Dear travel journal,
Back to the rainforest today. The part of the trip we have all been looking forward to the most. Up early for breaky, loaded into the vans and went shopping for snacks and mattresses. Once we got what we needed we were off. We drove for two hours ish and ended up at batangi resort jetty. Here we split off. Alvin and Christina took Sam, callum, Anne and Paul up the river with all of the provisions. While Kirsty, maria, Jason, Julie and phil booked into the Aiman. Batang Ai Resort, Lubik Antu. However, to get to the resort we first had to get into a little boat for half an hr that took us over to where the resort was. Which was nice, its awesome being back out into these waters. The resort is a bit swish. They didn't have our rooms ready so we sat around in the lounge and chatted while they got them sorted. Which is totally weird because all day we seriously saw a grand total of like 4 other guests. Once the rooms where ready we checked in and got settled and then while maria and Jason had a sleep, the rest of us went up to the pool and had a dip and chillaxed in the shade and saw a butterfly the size of a dinner plate. After we cooled off we had lunch and then headed back to our rooms. I did all my washing and hung it out along the fence of the front balcony of the long house and played with my camera and fell asleep for an hour. Around 4.30pm Jason, Julie and I headed back to the main building and went on a canopy walk. The other three aren't keen on heights so decided they would stay behind. It was about a 1k walk up hill to the canopy walk. The canopy walk was some netting and rope tied between 2 trees with ladders laid down between them and a plank of wood across the top. It was 150meters across and 50 meters up. At the start there was a little platform that you had to get to by climbing up a ladder that was tied in by rope lol. The view was pretty the lake one side and the mountains the other. And another ladder tied to the other end to get down. Then it was about another 1km walk back. The whole way up and down the guide kept stopping and talked about the trees and which ones were edable and we stopped at a headhunter chiefs grave of the local tribe who is still visited by his ancestors on his passing anniversary. Its been 200 years since the last traditional headhunter. It was a nice little walk. Then I walked around the resort a little and took loads of pictures of the scenery and sun setting. Then back to the room to organise my cloths and bags and then we headed up to the restaurant for dinner. We sat and ate and then moved down the balcony to sitting chairs. The geckos were huge and by the dozen and the sparrows were nesting on the lights and we entertained ourselves by watch the bats come in and find a place to eat. After chatting and photo taking it was time for shower and bed xoRead more
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Amie's Adventures Borneo and Indochina Adventure
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- Oct 8, 2016
- 🌧 11 °C
- Altitude: 310 m
- Malaysia Sarawak Rumah Tutong Sungai Ipoh 1.22077, 111.94781°13’15” N 111°56’52” E
Day 5
longhouse with the locals
October 8, 2016 in Malaysia ⋅ 🌧 11 °C
Dear travel journal,
Today we woke up and had breaky at the hotel and then we packed our stuff and headed down to the main building to wait for Alvin and the longboats. He had to go into town to get supplies so the wait was a bit extended. While we were waiting maria, Kirsty and I went for a wander down the front path of the resort. Had some lunch and sat around chatting for a bit. When Alvin got to the hotel we loaded into the boats and finally headed up the river. Same traditional longboats as last time I was here. 2 of us in each boat (Alvin and I, in my boat). Up the river, and reminiscing about the last time I was here. We only had to get out of the boat once to help push the boat over a super shallow bit. Which was pretty good considering how we were fighting up river the whole time. We had 2 iban in each boat. One at the front with a paddle and long stick to help steer and one at the back with the boat engine driving and steering the boat from back there. Once we arrived at the log house, we saw the site which is still very much in progress and had to walked up the muddy bank with bits of wood lay down for stairs, which were super slippy because they had, had a storm that morning (oddly we didn't any rain at all). The long house on the right has two sections the first was a big open square. With one corner still not built in. The front bit with the 'door' and a side section with the fire pit for cooking. Along the wall with the firepit was a kitchen and food. A table in the middle. None of the walls have been finished yet. And along the other wall the iban tribe has their bed set up (sleeping mats). There is 10 of them in total building this foundation who are staying here and we are staying with them. The second room is a square room with the beds around 3 sides, with one side wall finished off with a hanging tarp, none built all the way to to roof. Each raised bed had a mat over the top nailed down. Under each mat was a coin. The coin was placed to help pay respects to the spirits of the land in which we are staying in. and a little shed away from the main house with two toilets, whig will eventually be a built in shower block. One boy and one girl toilet with interesting and graffic wood carvings out the front of each (I found it amusing). The toilets have a tin roof and wooden sides and the doors are just a square of tarp nailed up and they don't have running water so we have a plastic bin filled with water that we pour some water in the toilet after we use it . We unpacked the long boats and met the iban and the chief and set up our mosquito nets. After our beds where set we helped Christina with dinner. Feeding 22 people each meal is insane and she does it really well. The chief made us sticky rice in bamboo over the fire pit which took over an hour. They usually only make these for special occasions. Like weddings, or for special guests. While dinner was cooking we all had a good chat and alvin got us arm wrestling with the iban. Jason won his and then it was my turn, i like to think i held my own for a while, we kind of just stayed in one spot, then i knew there was no way i was going to win and gave in, lol. They are all so ridiculously strong. After all the whities took their food and ate, the iban had some food as well. They will always wait until their guests have eaten until they will eat. After dinner Alvin got us to play a mingling game with the iban where he put one of them with one of us. One half of the whities taught the iban an English phrase and the other half of us where taught an iban phrase by the locals. I was taught 'sapa nama de' which means 'what is your name?', And I was voted best Malay speaker. They speak iban here. Everyone in borneo speaks malay but then there are multiple different languages. There are 32 different iban dialects. After wards we all sang 'you got a friend in me' old school song as our new tour song (although it oddly works). Last time we sang 'where have the hairys gone' (which is a unique jungle born song). And I think we need to make a new one for here. Obviously we all kinda only were able to sing the chorus and muddeled through the rest. Which obviously ended with us doing the can-can and swaying lol. I'm sure they found it highly entertaining. Then as a thankyou and welcome the chief Handed around shots of rice wine. Alcohol here is very much a common culture. A lot of people make their own rice wine and beer and whiskey. And drinking is a way of welcome, appreciation and it is considered rude to say no when they personally offer you something. Then sat around chatting and then crashed.Read more
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Amie's Adventures Borneo and Indochina Adventure
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- Oct 9, 2016
- 🌧 11 °C
- Altitude: 247 m
- Malaysia Sarawak Nanga Simpeng Sungai Tutong 1.22667, 111.939631°13’36” N 111°56’23” E
Day 6
day with the iban
October 9, 2016 in Malaysia ⋅ 🌧 11 °C
Dear travel journal,
This morning we were up early. Awake to the sounds of the forest in my mosquito net. Up for another amazing Christina breaky. And then because of the heavy rain from last night and constant rain today. We sat around and chatted with Alvin and the iban chief. The iban all sat around in their bed areas. Alvin was saying this is a good way to see that the conditions outside are not great because even all of the iban won't go outside to work. Alvin was saying that the laws here are governed by the chief who is determined by the tribe people. The iban determine their own laws right down to who the locals can marry. Where as with the other tribes such as the long Ears tribe, are very class dependant. For example even within their tribe they can only marry within their class. Alvin was saying the plan for us being here is to start to integrate with the tribe. Help where we can and become honarary members of the community. We are like the lighthouse group of the new plans for conservation and plans for extending the long house. Setting examples for and giving ideas for how to communicate with the locals and show them we can help. When the rain eased the iban started to head up the hill to make more planks of wood, from massive tress with chain saws!!!! to build the long house and we got stuck in to help. Anne, Julie and I started to help build the stairs. We cut out more wood and mud stairs and then put pegs at the front of each wooden step to hold everything in place. All the way from the long house to the river. And the chief cut up some bamboo and made a hand rail for the side of the steps. Once we all were all muddy and sweaty I took my dirty laundry down to the river and washed everything and hung it out. we ate an amazing lunch made by Christina and then we get sorted and headed out for a walk. We just did a short walk today. The start of a longer trail, which is 3 hrs long but we only did an hr or so of it today. It was a nice walk and the Iban, as usual, where amazing and made us all walking sticks out of bits of tree around the river. We saw lots of nests mostly old but 1 fresh hairy and 1 small sun bear. We also saw a tree that had had the bark peeled away by the hairys to suck out the water. And a buttress route tree that had been dug out by a foraging sun bear. We also heard the calls of a pheasant and saw an eagle. At the end of the track we did today was a bit of a waterfall. They put our stuff into a long boat and put us in life jackets and we jumped off the waterfall (only 2-3 meters) and floated down the river from the waterfall to the long house. I did get one cockroach type bug run up my pant leg which was interesting to get out, pulled a leach off the back of my leg and my stomach and had an ant bite my stomach but it was all good. Once back at the longhouse we grabbed our washing gear and headed down to a calmer patch in the river and washed our cloths and bodies and I washed my hair and got all clean. Then back up stairs to help Christina with dinner and then we sat around chatting. One of the iban elders went out hunting while we were having dinner. He was on his own and saw a wild bore so he shot it with his rifle and gutted it and turned the intestines inside out and put the stomach and intestines into a bag. Then attached the bag to the boar, removed a leg and suspended the rest submerged into the river to preserve it over night until the other iban can go down and help collect it. He carried the leg back up to the long house. And the iban are now cooking it while we are chatting. They seared it on the fire then cut it into pieces and put the bones into pots and boiled it. The extra meat they cooked over the fire and shared it between the iban and the whities. The elder who caught the bore then walked up the hill to collect a plant they use to flavour the meat and boil with the bones to make stock and said while he was in the forest he saw a hairy with a young one in the forest just behind our long house. Seriously within a stones throw from where we were sitting! The meat is obviously pork but had a very beefy flavour with the pork kind of texture. It was quite nice. The fact that they shared with us is amazing. They really are taking on the view of taking us into their home. I had a really good chat with Anne tonight about pets and sad stories turned happy and problem breeds lol. I also had a good chat with Alvin about a tracking project that a zoologist is coming over to do. And he is going to send me the zoologists plans for me to have a look and send back to him with notes and comments. It is hugley amazing to be a part of a project like this and be were we are. I think we really are making a good impression on the chief. This morning the chief was saying that I have to come back again. He wouldn't say that if they honestly didn't believe it. Crawled into my mossie net tonight, and going to sleep happy and content...Read more
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Amie's Adventures Borneo and Indochina Adventure
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- Oct 10, 2016
- 🌧 11 °C
- Altitude: 132 m
- Malaysia Sarawak Rumah Tutong 1.2141, 111.933531°12’51” N 111°56’1” E
Day 7
day 2 at the long house
October 10, 2016 in Malaysia ⋅ 🌧 11 °C
Dear travel journal,
Day 2 at the longhouse - wake up to the sounds of the river and the birds and bugs. Up for breaky and Feeling a little rough today - think I'm getting a cold. I'm so glad I brought my jacket out here because the temp drops quite a bit during the night. We sore off Sam, callum, Anne and Paul as they head off to spend the night at the fancy resort. Not far up the river one of the motors on the long boat broke down and they had to send the third long boat down the river to make a switch and bring the broken one back to fix. so our morning walk was postponed. So I went back to bed and had a bit of a sleep. I woke up mid morning and after a while I did start feeling heaps better. Christina was again being amazing in the kitchen and getting a packed lunch ready for us all to take on our trek today. The longboat wasn't as broken as they thought they just had to replace the starter motor cord so we could go on the long walk we were planning as the start of the walk is down river. Our guides today were amazing. One at the back and one at the front and awesome supports the whole time. It was definitely not an easy walk. So, we all jumped into one long boat (10 of us) and went down stream a bit of a ways. And then the longboat was tidied to a tree at the base of the river bank and one at a time we had to walk down the length of the boat and climb up the river bank which was pretty much straight up on a vertical angle for I would say maybe 50 meters. We were practically crawling up the side of the mountain grabbing any stable root, tree and rock we could to get up. The rule was give each other space and don't try to help cause then we will all fall. It was actually quite fun. Then we just kept walking up hill and along ridges for what felt like ages. We saw lecks and heard pheasants and barking deer and saw lots of hairy nests and areas wild boar had been. Then we sat down and had lunch which was an egg and a potato each, some peanuts and fermented raisins (sound yuck but actually tasty) and then we where handed a banana leaf (1 between 2- best plate ever) which had rice, baked beans and cucumber. Yup total carb loading. Then we started on again and continued going up and across and up some more. Then we heard a massive crash and saw something disappear between then trees quick as a flash - hairy!!!!! Apparently when they get annoyed or think they are being followed they will kick a tree really hard, and take off in the other direction, as a way of saying back off - not happy! The hairies in this part of batangi are still hunted and eaten so when they hear people they are very skitish. Where as the ones around our camp from the last trip, are more used to people and are not eaten so they hang around a bit more allowing people a chance to get a good look. I think coexisting is perfect but being friendly with people is definitely something that should be avoided. Alvin was saying for the most part, more hairys are seen in areas where it is taboo to eat monkey meat and harder to see where it is still eaten. The plan being to have the entire region move away from monkey hunting. We kept walking on up and straight and up some more and while we were all sat having a rest one of the iban went out to scout the track. And he must have spooked a hairy because it came rushing past us. The iban with us saw it well and a few people saw something orangey brown taking off through the trees. Hairy take 2 - very cool. Alvin said that he has never seen one move between the trees so fast, but because of how big and dense the trees are in the area we were in makes it super easy for them to move around. We kept walking a little more and then turned and started walking down. It was really quite steep in places, it took a lot of 'subah subah' (slowly slowly), rope, a group effort and some sliding but eventually we all made it to the bottom and back to the river - just much further up stream. We took our walking boots off and jumped in the river cause the only way back was to go down and across the river a little. Back at the long house and exhausted we were informed our couple of hr walk had turned into a full on 7 hr trek and that we were the first whities to ever do that track. The iban where literally cutting branches and trees back to make us a path as we walked. Feeling pretty honoured. While out one of the Iban tried to teach me how to say 'this is good' in iban, which I got at the time but have the memory of a sieve so I will have to ask tomorrow. I thought the trek was amazing. I would have quite easily gone out and done that everyday or just gone and sit and watched the wildlife world happen around me. I would love to come here and help out with a conservation project. Everyone did so well on the walk. The oldest person in our group are in their 60s and maria with her poor knees on those steep Climbs. Once back on our beach the iban had brought the boar up from the river and cut it into lots pieces and were cooking it over a fire on the beach. We all got our toiletries and washed in the river and in our little wash area I climbed up the rocks and jumped into the deep bit of the river and floated a few meters down stream then swam back and around for a while. It was quite refreshing. I love being in the waters here. This place is awesome. After a wash and cloths cleaning, it was back upstairs, organise all my stuff, put dry cloths on and then out into the kitchen to help Christina with dinner. After dinner there wasn't much sitting around. Iban and whities are all pretty tired after a massive day. Aside from the boar and fixing the boat. They have pretty much completely cut up a massive iron wood tree that runs down, well ran down beside the long house. So all being stuffed meant an early night by all. After we leave tomorrow the iban might stay an extra couple of days to build more but most if not all of them will go back to their families and long houses and periodically come over to work on building the amazing design idea for what will eventually be a place I will be able to say I help build and set up. So here I lay in pitch black on my mattress under my to net, in a room full of people, no privacy, river and birds in the back ground, trying to figure out how to explain this amazing place and how lucky I feel to be here and how much I don't want to leave in the morning.Read more
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- Oct 11, 2016
- ⛅ 32 °C
- Altitude: 20 m
- Malaysia Sarawak Munggu Isu Sungai Terok Kara 1.13277, 111.331021°7’58” N 111°19’52” E
Day 8
the cheifs hospitality
October 11, 2016 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C
Dear travel journal,
Today we left our jungle home and headed back to the mainland. We packed up the entire long house. Hung everything up, put everything away and loaded everything else and everyone into the long boats and we were off down the river. The plan was to drop us all off at the batang ai resort and then we would catch the resort ferry with the guys at the resort back to the main jetty. While Alvin and Christina and the iban head over to the long boat jetty, pack the van and head over to pick us up. However, in my boat was Christina, myself and a bunch of the boxes, and I was forgotten about and taken with the stuff to the long boat jetty. It was OK though, I helped unpack the boats and pack the van and got a chance to say goodbye to all of the iban, who told me to visit again. And I also got a chance to see and say hello to the cheif of the longhouse we stayed in a couple of years ago, who was there to pick up a great projects group, which was nice. Sorted and in the van, we headed over to pick up everyone and I caught up with the guys who spent the night at the resort. Then we piled into the van and headed down to little local restraunt for lunch. The little town we stopped in obviously don't get many whitie visitors. We are becoming quite used to standing out where ever we go, lol. From there we headed to the jungle chiefs usual place of residence. The original plan was to head into peraya home stay but the chief had offered to host us in his home for a night, an offer we couldn't pass up. Driving up to the longhouse definitely showed us just how different longhouses can be. It was more like a semi modern, semi traditional 2 story apartment block with each house/unit directly next to each other (sharing walls), for at least 20 residences. From the front it looked like each door lead into each residence. Like most traditional long houses it had two front sections, known as lecks or entertainment areas, one uncovered - the massive concreted area in front of and the length of the entire longhouse, then out of the van, greeted by the chief and through the first door (he was right down the end), and you actually walked into a massive tiled hallway that ran the length of the entire longhouse. I'm gonna guesstimate like 400meters, opened and tiled all the way down. Each residence is exactly the same size but what they do with it, is completely up to them. Most houses have lounge, Kitchen and bathroom down stairs and bedrooms and storage upstairs. Jungle chief is not the chief here at his residential longhouse he is just a member of the community. Inside his front door was a massive living area, with a dry kitchen further in and his bedroom to the left. Further back through a door is the wet kitchen and further again the toilets and shower. We all sat around the lounge and some ladies of the familys of the guys who were with us in the jungle long house (who also have their own residences in this longhouse) came down to help our cheifs wife with cooking etc. We had sticky rice in bamboo and coconut and sugar wrapped in coconut milk based type outside. The texture was a little odd for me but the inside was nice, with tea and coffee. After afternoon tea, we explored the long house. Outside our chief has a vegi patch, roosters, chickens and a pig, as well as a river that runs along side the property. After exploring we all started having showers because we were melting and gross, even Alvin and Christina where struggling in the heat. While waiting for my turn I helped Christina and the chiefs wife with dinner prep. Then it was my turn, the cold water was amazing. Once we were all showered we gathered in the lounge again and lots of people from other houses joined us, including the chief of this village. We all sat whities on one side, iban on the other. Once dinner was ready it was all laid out on the floor ready for serving but first we waited for for our chief to pray. The majority of the people in this region of the country are devote catholic. He lite 2 white pillar candles and from the bible read a prayer and added a section that said something along the lines of "thank you to the English and Australian for their help in fighting against the evil that threatens their lands and traditions." Which is amazing. Then our chief did an old ceremony called 'the washing of the feet ceremony'. He got 13 glasses (10 of us, Alvin, christina and Frankie) filled them with rice wine and put a boiled egg inside. Then one at a time from oldest to youngest (the boys are both younger then me turns out) the village chief shook our hand and handed us a glass and we had to drink the rice wine in one, then tip out the egg and break it on the glass rim, peal it and eat it. This symbolizes getting rid of bad spirits, cleansing our spirit and the egg sign of rebirth and new beginnings. After the ceremony we all tucked into dinner, except the iban who had apparently eaten in their own homes and just watched us eat. After dinner Anne and I cleared everything away and everyone was drinking and having a good time. Alvin drunk is hilarious. The other iban slowly started leaving and 2 houses of jungle tribe members took a couple home to host for the night. Jason and maria went to one house and Julie and Phillip to another. The rest of us put mattresses out on the floor of the lounge room, got sorted for bed, watched a tiny bit of TV and then turned off all the light.Read more
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Amie's Adventures Borneo and Indochina Adventure
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- Oct 12, 2016, 11:31pm
- ⛅ 23 °C
- Altitude: 210 m
- Malaysia Sarawak Kampong Doras Bukit Udur 1.34525, 110.387841°20’43” N 110°23’16” E
Day 9
day of travel
October 12, 2016 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
Dear travel journal,
I'm exhausted and we really didn't do a whole lot today. I didn't sleep overly well last night, I kept tossing and turning and then at 5am the roosters started going off, and did not stop for about 3 hrs! I got up and went to the loo are 5.30am and tip toed past everyone asleep on the floor. And then managed a couple more hours sleep and was woken up for breakfast. The typical eggs, noodles, and toast and today we also had cheese and meat sausages. After breaky we cleared up, got our things together, put all of our dirty laundry in one pile and packed the car. Before we left we took looks of group photos inside and out the front of chiefs house and one of the other jungle tribesman's house as well, who was right down the other end of the longhouse. On the way back up to the chiefs (a good 100 meters) Alvin had us line up in threes, an arms length between us to the side and in front. He then had Frankie stand at the front and yell out army commands in Malay (and just followed what Alvin did). We stood to attention, at ease, attention, turned left and marched the length of the hallway. The stopped, turned right, attention, reset and broken up. It was a good laugh. then we all said our goodbyes, chief told me again to come back soon as he thinks I will be a good help with the eco-university they would love to set up at the jungle long house, which i indefinitely will. And then we piled into the vans and off we went. We drove for a few hours and then stopped in sri amen. We did all of our washing and sat in a cafe and had cold drinks while it was washing, put it in the dryers and then headed over to the market to have some lunch and then walked around a bit and stopped at a pharmacy for Anne and Sam's itchy bites and then back into the van for another few hrs. We stopped once at a market place so some people could buy machetes and we had a quick walk around and then again on the side of the road for a chat and to look at our surroundings and and how they all fit together. And then onto the village we are staying in tonight to talk about how the area we are in is compiled of completely regrown fruit trees not natural forest and as we are out the back of semmengoh orangutan reserve its prime location for orangutans to move out into and that there has been some evidence that some have done just that. More so by the locals of the tribes then the authorities. There are around 18 villages around this area. And there have been 12 true traditional hunters identified in this area. Who are still known as monkey eaters, although this region has the highest number of graduates for its population in Sarawak showing that they are all educated and have jobs, moving them away from hunting for the most part. Alvin's plan is to talk his guide friend valentine and head into these villages once we leave and have chats and built positive relationships with as many of these villages as possible. To help express the importance of conservation and sustainable hunting and saving and coexisting with the orangutan population in these regions. We are the first group to come through here purely to help raise awareness for conservation and to help prove that people outside the local communities really do care and want to help. We also stopped at Alvin's house to drop off a lot of the kits and Christina. We will miss her but she will come to dinner on the last night. Got another big hug and a see you soon from Christina's mum and were back off to our home stay village. Peraya village is a decent size with lots of different homes, an education centre and a little soccer field. We are staying in the peraya homestay which is owned by a guide named valentine who is an old friend of alvins. we made it into the village and unpacked the van and walked up the river bank a little and then crossed a bamboo bridge to get to our long house. This long house has a covered and uncovered entertainment area. And 10 rooms in total where we all split off into pairs. Up behind the longhouse is a shower block with 3 cubicles with a shower and toilet in each and a couple of sinks outside. Which is awesome proper shower and somewhere to brush our teeth and wash cloths. The two are connected by a path of concrete circles. We all unpacked and had afternoon tea and had showers. The shower was very cold, but refreshing. After we got sorted It was time for dinner which was tasty as always. After dinner we sat around chatting. Valantine sat with us chatting about how he has set up this homestay to highlight the traditions of his culture, which is why there is a bamboo bridge to get in and everything is made from bamboo. He believes that it is important for us to be teaching the next generation. Alvin was saying that him and valentine have surveyed some of the primary schools in the area and most of the kids don't even know what animals are living in the jungle around their homes. They think they have gorillas and no dramas with some of the critical species because it's just not taught or talked about. Teaching these kids is the most important thing we can do to help the future of Borneo's environment and species management. Then Julie, Anne and I worked on our travel journals and then crashed.Read more
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Amie's Adventures Borneo and Indochina Adventure
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- Oct 13, 2016, 8:05pm
- ⛅ 25 °C
- Altitude: 139 m
- Malaysia Sarawak Kampong Sijiram Sungai Dai 1.47276, 110.388531°28’22” N 110°23’19” E
Day 10
homestay adventure
October 13, 2016 in Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C
Dear travel journal,
The peraya homestay adventure guys are awesome. Today was absolutely the best fun. Up for breaky and then into our swimmers and we headed down to the river. Valentine fed all the fish in the river (which are huge because of the local tangun) off a raised wooden platform along the river bank to show us just how big they really can get when we protect our local environment. After watching the fishes (cat fish, carps and other fish) we went down and jumped on our bamboo rafts. The rafts where literally just 8 sticks of bamboo with holes cut throw them at one end to allow them all to be strapped together. And a few little seats spread over the middle for us to sit. At each end of the raft we had a boatman, each with a maschette (Parang - golok ) which differ between each tribe. The iban had wider straighter blades, where the bidayu have bent thinner blades, which are probably better suited to the copious amounts of bamboo they cut through) strapped to the raft in front of them and a long piece of bamboo to push us along the river. The name of the river is the sirin river and I was on a raft with callam and Sam and our boatman where Alex and Darren. The rafting was absolutely amazing. Its seriously taken me days to write this entry because I kept thinking about how to explain our day in writing, but I have just decided to write it and although it's not going to sound quite as good in writing, the day was still completely amazing. We rafted along nicely for ages, waved at some locals when we went past one of the villages and one of the older ladies was yelling 'hello' and 'morning' and waving the whole time it took us to go past. We stopped a couple of times so the rafting guys could go 'nature shopping' where they collected bamboo for making cups, bamboo leaves for cooking, different bamboo for eating and multiple other plants for eating and seasoning our lunch. A few times we had to get out and walk because the waterfalls where really steep, or stop so the rafters could cut down fallen trees and bamboo that were blocking the river. They would literally just grab their maschettes, jump over board, cut their way through and jump back on the raft. at one stop we couldn't see the fall they had to go down because we had to walk a little ways through a village vegi patch to get across, valentine was explaining about the different plants that can be eaten and used for medicinal purposes. Aparently paw paw leaf, when crushed, can help break a fever for people who are suffering from dengi fever. we could hear them having an amazing time however and on the other side, the chairs and everything had completely fallen off all of the rafts. Once the rafts where all put back together and lined up we had to get back on. The 4 rafts where push together and to get to our raft callam, sam and I had to cross all of the other rafts. Denis (one of the adventure workers) helped me to my seat, then picked callam up and throw him in the river. Then went to get sam but he just jumped overboard, cigarette in hand which he managed to not get wet lol. And from then it was on. A few more people (mostly the boatmen) ended up in the river between then and lunch. When we stopped for lunch, it was absolutely amazing. We pulled up on a rocky beach took our chairs and watched as our rafts got turned into a river kitchen. A few of the boatman cut up the plants and vegis and chicken and fish and stuck them inside the bamboo they cut and collected earlier. Someone else was pouring rice grains into banana leaves, folding them and and putting them inside other bamboo pipes made earlier. The end of each bamboo length was plugged with a banana leaf which they use to tell when the food is ready. While this was happening the others made two fires from bamboo and leaves and the bamboo with all the food in it was placed over the fire, while corn on the cobs where just placed directly on the fire. Even the tongs and everything were made from bits of bamboo. The corn was amazing, the rice was perfectly cooked and the meats where so tender. At the little pebble beach was also a little platform (also made from bamboo) which valentine was saying is used to sleep on when people are taken out for the few day survival trips where people are shown how to live completely off the jungle. While we were all sitting around eating Denis was in the river and just with his hands and maschette caught a fish which had to be at least 30cm long and then they made us tea and coffee in long pieces of bamboo and poured it to us in the bamboo cups they had made for us. After eating we all swam around in the river for a bit, cleaned up and we were off down the river again. This time we all got a go. We all stood up and were given bamboo sticks to help push the boat along. We only had 4 sticks but 5 people so we pulled over and darren jumped out and just quick as a flash made a new one, so we could all have one. This put us behind everyone else but we soon caught up and it became a race between us and Denis' and williams' boat which had Kirsty, Jason and maria on it. Which seriously just ended with everyone of us being thrown in and Jason and Denis going in as well. Halfway through our race it absolutely bucketed down. The rain was soon heavy and there was thunder and lightening and we had the best time. We were all slipping everywhere and laughing and sam got a chunk of it on his go pro which should be awesome. Once the rain stopped and we got to the end It was really quite deep and we all just started pushing each other in. Denis even picked up Kirsty and threw her in at one point. And a bunch of us just ended up swimming to the stairs where we were getting out. We had the best fun. Of course, thanks to Denis (knickname Denis the menis) half the group had consumed quite a bit of rice whisky which started at 9.30am when we left off and just continued all day and didnt stop until bed. But we got off the rafting at about 3.30pm. Ooohh haaa. After taking all of the stuff off the rafts the bidayu dismantled the rafts and we helped carry the pieces out and placing them on the trailer. Apparently we are the second group ever to help pack up and put everything on the trailer. The little village was very cute. We all went to the little local shop to get cold drinks which was a room in someones house with locked bars across the front and she just handed us what we wanted through the bars. We did have to wait a little though, which was fine, cause her 1 month old baby was crying, who was very cute. There was another house window selling Burger's for like 2-3 ringgets, which is insane. A burger for $1.... A van then arrived with our dry cloths and we got all changed in valentines uncles house who lives in the village that we ended the rafting in. Which was super nice of him. Them back to our peraya longhouse (stopping for snacks and ice cream on the way of course) and slight rally driving on the way. At the longhouse we all showered and I washed my wet cloths and we settled in for dinner. After dinner valentines 2 daughters and niece did two traditional dances to gongs (3 gongs and 3 symbols) in traditional costumes and then taught us how to do them. The second dance is usually one that is done by the older women of the tribes that had rings and bells around there legs and arms so they don't move around much. The first one was ladies and callam who was wearing a red and white traditional vest. And the second was all of us in a circle. Then we took turns at the drumming. I had two sticks and three gongs (symbols) and was the lead and Alex said i did it really well (winning). The whole while some people where taking turns having massages. I was going to have one but 1 lady to 10 people seemed a rough, so only about 4 people ended up with massages in the end. After the drumming we all sat around and chatted and people were laughing and drinking and having a good time. Callam and Sam had their backs cracked by one of the locals which looked painful but apparently felt amazing. Kirsty, Jason and I had a good chat with Alex. Whose day job is a technician for hotels in kuching and when he is not working he is out with peraya adventures and loves it. And camps up and down the river and in forest areas in his free time. He then asked how we felt about what Alvin and valentine are trying to do for conservation, and I asked him the same. He was saying that he doesn't think its going to work. That technology and modern advancements are going to overtake our natural environment and cultural history. Its interesting to think that the locals who are my age really have no faith in the protection of their own conservation, that modern advancements and technology are just going to take over. I guess that's why Alvin and valentine want to start in schools and get kids when they are young and show them a world of what they could be missing out on. We need to find a way to keep up with the world while holding onto our heritage and traditions.Read more
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